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How do I clear formatting?
Posted: Sat Aug 15, 2015 10:38 am
by Sheide
Having awful time with formatting, specifically, numbering, bullets, and indents. Want to clear it but I don't know how. Have tried, but keeps returning.
In future, how do I start a document with no formatting? Would like to input text, format later.
Re: How do I clear formatting?
Posted: Sat Aug 15, 2015 10:56 am
by floris v
First question: select the offending text and then press Ctrl+M to remove all direct formatting (that's all formatting that you apply directly, using the Font face and size boxes, and the tools for adding italics, boldface etc. In short, anything not defined directly in a paragraph style or character style. Ctrl+M will reset the formatting to what's in the applied paragraph style - so if you have a line with Heading 1 style, it will still be H1, but everything not in that style's definition has been removed. A more aggressive way is by clicking in the paragraph style list on the formatting tool bar, scroll to the top and selecting Clear formatting - that will set the paragraph style to Default and remove all other formatting.
Second question: Learn to work with styles. Read the Help pages about styles. Don't use the tool bars to center text, to adjust line spacing, to select a typeface etc. Instead modify the paragraph styles that you use. There may also be good templates for the kind of documents that you intend to write. Use them, and adjust them to your needs and taste.
A good introduction to document structure is in this tutorial:
viewtopic.php?f=71&t=58558
Re: How do I clear formatting?
Posted: Sat Aug 15, 2015 2:38 pm
by jrkrideau
In addition to the link from floris v you might want to have a look at
Introduction to Styles
Re: How do I clear formatting?
Posted: Sat Aug 15, 2015 3:15 pm
by acknak
The interaction of list formatting and paragraph formatting is quite muddy and confusing.
If you need to remove the list formatting, you have to do that separately from the paragraph formatting. Select the list items and remove the list formatting using either the main toolbar (toggle list formatting on/off) or on the floating list toolbar (turn list formatting off).
The simplest way to work is to set the paragraph formatting to zero indent (space before text: 0) and manage the left side formatting through the list settings (Bullets & numbering > Position).
Writer also provides list styles, which can make list formatting and configuration much easier to manage.